Subject: [Sm28] Serbia's Albanians warn of discrimination behind rebel attacks
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 10:10:14 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP / Jean-Eudes Barbier)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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VELIKI TRNOVAC, Yugoslavia, Nov 30 (AFP) - Moderate Albanians in
southern Serbia have called on Belgrade to put an end to the ethnic
discrimination of the Slobodan Milosevic era, or risk facing an
upsurge of armed separatist attacks.
"I am one of those who think the political options for solving
the problems of Albanians are far from exhausted," Galip Beqiri,
mayor of the Albanian-populated town Veliki Trnovac told AFP.
The town is in an ethnic Albanian area of southern Serbia,
currently the focus of attacks by rebels, calling themselves the
Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), seeking
to unite the area with UN-run Kosovo.
Beqiri acknowledged that not everyone in his area had the same
outlook, and among 8,000 inhabitants of the town, there was a number
who "have joined the guerrillas and have taken up arms."
Seeking to bolster influence in the area, much of which is
located in a demilitarised buffer zone, the guerrillas have found
they can still count on lingering resentment of Milosevic-era
nationalism.
And, local leaders say, this will have to change if Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica is to avoid further violence.
"Sixty-two percent of the 50,000 inhabitants of Bujanovac are
Albanians, but they are under-represented in the public
institutions," a local leader from the Party for Democratic Action
(PDD) explained.
Albanians "are non-existent in the police forces, they have no
radio station or newspapers, and the availability of education for
the young is limited."
Kostunica, who took office in October, has already shown a will
for a dialogue with the minorities living in Serbia, a move which
has raised hopes here.
But for the Albanians, time is running out, and the complaints
of Milosevic-era discrimination continue to rear their head. Most
complaints have centered on the behaviour of police towards them,
and an alleged increase in humiliation, harassment and, sometimes,
beatings.
The Belgrade leadership may be new, local leaders argue, but its
make-up has yet to change.
"Some of these policemen are criminals who have sullied their
names in Kosovo" during the 1998-99 war, one Veliki Trnovac official
said.
"We want to be equally represented in the local police units,"
he insisted.
But Colonel Novica Zdravkovic, the chief of the Serbian police
in the region, admits that the behaviour of some of his men has not
always been in accordance with the demands of the service.
"We have recently taken disciplinary measures against five of
them," he told AFP.
Zdravkovic said that the priority was to secure the region and
normalise the traffic on the road leading to Kosovo, controlled for
almost a fortnight by the UCPMB guerrillas.
He noted that in recent months, some 90 serious incidents
between the guerrillas and his units were recorded, in which about a
dozen people were killed.
Acts of terrorism, notably bomb attacks, have also multiplied in
southern Serbia, he said.
And moderate Albanians recognise this has not created an
atmosphere that is conducive to cohabitation. The two communities
live almost entirely separately. Albanians and Serbs have their own
areas, meeting places, shops and schools.
"The guerrillas are causing fear among moderate Albanians, but
if our right to work, movement and a normal life is not respected,
the UCPMB might gain on the ground," one PDD official warned.
But there are some glimmers of hope, albeit few and far between.
This week, one rumour was spread in Bujanovac that the house of the
only Serbian resident in a nearby village was burned down by the
Albanians.
But the house of 80-year-old Obrad Ristic was still standing,
and, in absence of its owner, who has fled following increased
tensions in the area, an Albanian neighbour has been feeding the
chickens and a dog belonging to the old Serb.